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Whether you want to get more serious about professional studio photography or you want to expand your current lighting setup, this tutorial is meant to give you an introduction to the different types of basic lighting equipment. Hopefully you'll come away with enough knowledge to aid you when shopping for new gear.
Lighting equipment can fall into one of three major categories: the light sources themselves, modifiers that control the spread of light, and grips or stands that support the lights.
Light sources
Professional studio light sources generally fall into one of two categories: you can get a kit with a flash head and a power pack, or you can get a monolight kit.
A head and power pack kit consists of the flash head and a small power pack that acts as the generator that supplies energy to the flash head. The flash head contains flash tubes that emit light once supplied with high voltages.
There are two kinds of power packs: symmetric power packs and assymetric power packs. Symmetric power packs split power equally between multiple flash heads. Assymetric power packs allow the user to vary the power supply to different flash heads.
Monolights, on the other hand, are compact substitutes for a power pack/flash head combinations. Their size limits their power, but they are often desired for their portability.
Having all the controls on the power pack makes it easier to change the settings of multiple flash heads in one place quickly. Monolights come with the controls built directly into the light itself. So if you have multiple monolights, you'll need to control and adjust the settings of each one separately. Head/power pack kits also offer faster flash durations than monolights, which can really come in handy when you want to freeze action during fast motion. They also have faster recycle times.
If you're shooting outdoors or with complicated modifier setups, you are going to need a lot of power to overcome the sun or the light loss caused by the modifiers. Head/pack systems have a big advantage in the power department. Whereas, if you're shooting indoors or inside your studio, monolights will probably be more than enough for regular work.
With each option, you can find equipment prices that vary widely. Be sure to also check out used gear, as you can often find good deals on lighting kits that can serve you well. Whichever your choose, keep in mind that the most durable equipment is made mainly of metal rather than plastic.
Most lights, regardless of the brand or model, provide heads that come in the form of a strobe surrounded by a reflector. Some, like the Profoto Acute/D4 flash heads, come with a zoom reflector which slides and locks at your chosen position allowing you to further control the spread of light. Their zoom reflector, like many others, provides the ability to attach a honeycomb grid for an even more focused spread, or other kinds of light modifiers used for different effects.
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